Apolitical Staples

but apparently I do care about the Swedish Election that occured today (or as they call is Val '06). According to the exit polls the ruling coalition, lead by Göran Persson's Social Democrats, are losing to the Alliance by about 4%.
Although the Moderates have less support than the Social Democrats they have the support of the Liberals, Christian Democrats and the Centre Party and this Alliance looks to enough to defeat the Social Democrat, Left and Green Party coalition.
In some respects this represents a rejection of the Swedish Welfare State (but this is Sweden so I do not want to over sell that) but I will let a Swedish free market proponent explain.

...I mean that the welfare state was built on specific preconditions: wealth, a strong work ethic, a sense of trust in a homogenous society, and an aversion to living on welfare. All of which made it possible to create a strong social security system. Now that may sound great but with it came a gradual distortion of incentives.
What we now see is that taxpayers are footing the bill for people who choose not to work. Plus we have the strange situation whereby Sweden is one of the healthiest countries in the world but also has the highest level of sick leave. The collapse of the initial preconditions has meant that attitudes have changed to the point that people are no longer sure what is right and what is wrong.

You can see a BBC story here. At the end they mention that a Moderate led government would consider closer ties to the European Union and possibly joining NATO. Which would be nice because we can use all the help we can get in Afghanistan. And I should also mention that the reporters use of the term "cradle to the grave welfare" sent shivers down my spine but it seems that even the Swedes are rejecting this (well, see the caveat above).
And if there is anyone out there as insane as I am you can listen to an English broadcast here.